Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library.
Dept. of Special Collections

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Abstract: Books and papers of an historian and editor of Yale University Press, primarily relating to 20th century German history, including
the Weimar Republic, Third Reich, Holocaust, Nuremberg trials, international war tribunals, and the Cold War period.

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Copies of Eugene Davidson's major published works have been cataloged separately and may be searched on Pegasus, the UCSB
Libraries online catalog.

Scope and Content Notes

The Eugene Davidson Collection contains both a manuscript section and a larger collection of books, both dealing primarily
with modern German history, especially the period of the Third Reich and post-WWII events such as the Nuremberg trials and
Allied occupation of Germany. The manuscript portion pertains mainly to Davidson's writings, much of it on modern German history,
but also other political issues, and some early poetry. Included are drafts, correspondence, research files, dealings with
publishers, and reviews.

Among the manuscripts is correspondence, primarily 1960s-1970s, with Albert Speer, Hitler's chief architect and minister of
armaments from 1942-1945, and other related material such as an architectural drawing by Speer, inscribed to Davidson. Davidson
wrote the introduction to Speer's autobiographical
Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs (1970).

There also is correspondence with Luise Jodl, wife of WWII German general Alfred Jodl, who was tried at Nuremberg and hanged.
Jodl is covered extensively in Chapter 9 of Davidson's
Trial of the Germans.

In addition, there are a few other post-war letters from figures such as Admiral Doenitz.

There is very little material relating to Davidson's personal life or his professional career, aside from that as a writer.

The bulk of the collection came directly from Eugene Davidson's estate, but some materials which Davidson earlier had donated
to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming were transferred from there to UCSB, and some materials bequeathed
to Wyoming likewise were given to UCSB, upon agreement with the estate's trustees. The University of Missouri Press also transferred
its remaining files to UCSB.

V. Subject Files (Boxes 5-8). Includes Adolf Eichmann trial, files relating to Davidson's intro to Albert Speer's
Inside the Third Reich, and other files pertaining to the Third Reich, World War II, the Holocaust, and Davidson trips to Germany and elsewhere
after World War II.

VI. Writings (Boxes 9-20). Research files, notes, drafts, correspondence, publicity, and reviews, mainly pertaining to monographs published
by Davidson, but also poetry and shorter works such as articles, forewords, introductions, and reviews by him.

VIII. Audiotape (A6693/R7). Commentary by Eugene Davidson on an interview with Albert Speer for NET-TV.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Davidson, Eugene, 1902-2002

World War II

Third Reich

Speer, Albert, 1905-1981.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

Related Materials in UCSB Special Collections

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